A Puff of Responsibility

A Puff of Responsibility is a late 2016 Spider-Man/Powerpuff Girls crossover fanfiction written by Max Carroll. The story serves as a direct sequel to the original Powerpuff Girls, taking place 9 years afterwards, with the Powerpuff Girls now teenagers and attending Pokey Oaks High School. The story revolves around 15-year old Peter Parker, a child who had just moved to Townsville from New York City with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. However, when Peter is bitten by an irradiated spider during a field trip, he gains spider-like powers. But when he doesn't use them responsibly, a burglar kills his Uncle Ben, he vows to use his powers to protect the city in the name of law and order.

It was followed by 3 sequels, A Puff of Responsibility: Torment, A Puff of Responsibility: Homecoming, and A Puff of Responsibility 2099, as well as a crossover with 2099, A Puff of Responsibility: Timestorm.

Plot

Chapter 1: Moving

15-year old Peter Parker has just moved to Townsville with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben after the latter had gotten a promotion at work. Peter, a shy intellectual, quickly befriends Townsville's resident superheroines, the Powerpuff Girls, becoming particularly close with Blossom.

Chapter 2: First Day

On his first day of school, Peter learns that his class would be taking a field trip to a science exhibit being hosted by Doctor Otto Octavius, Peter's old Science Camp teacher.

Chapter 3: Spider Bite

After arriving, the class learns that Octavius' experiment would involve a radiation generator and a 4 armed mechanical apparatus which could withstand radiation particles. While the experiment is going, however, Peter is bitten by a spider that had been irradiated by the machine's energy output. Peter then falls unconscious and is rushed home.

Chapter 4: Something's Different

Upon regaining consciousness, Peter is informed that he might have fallen unconscious when Octavius' irradiated arms came into contact with the air. He is then informed that he would have to stay home for the rest of the week. However, Peter quickly discovers abilities that were given to him by the spider's irradiated venom, such as superhuman strength, speed, agility, the ability to scale walls, fire organic webbing from his wrists, an an uncanny sixth-sense, most of which he uses to avoid getting beaten up by Buttercup's boyfriend Mitch Mitchelson.

Chapter 5: New Powers

Afterwards, Blossom goes over to Peter's house and kisses him, but is quickly rejected by Peter due to the possibility that their relationship wouldn't be approved and the fact that Peter was in love with his childhood friend Mary Jane Watson, breaking Blossom's heart. However, Peter soon regrets this and begins planning on how to make it up to her and repay his aunt and uncle for all the kindness they had shown to him after his parents died.

Chapter 6: Peter Wins

Days later, Peter is ready to return to school. However, when Uncle Ben opts to drive him. They then have a conversation about Peter's recent behavior, and Ben tells Peter a lesson about great power and great responsibility, only to be angrily brushed off by Peter. At lunch, Peter and Mitch get into an altercation wherein Peter embarrasses Mitch by telling the entire school about their scuffle the other day, causing everyone to laugh at Mitch and for Buttercup to break up with him.

After school, Peter heads for the city, but instead of going to the library like his Uncle Ben believed, he heads for an underground wrestling ring. Upon arriving, he witnesses a wrestler being practically crippled by Seth, the Duke of Death. Peter then signs up and puts on a makeshift costume. He then battles the wrestler and defeats him in a very short fight. Peter is then praised by the audience, who hail him as "the Amazing Spider-Man".

Chapter 7: Revenge

After the match, Peter goes to collect the $4,000 dollars that were offered, only to be cheated out by the promoter when he gets a measly $1,200 dollars instead. A thief soon burgles the promoter, and Peter hesitates and allowing the thief to escape. When the promoter confronts Peter about it, though, Peter simply rationalizes it as revenge and leaves.

When Peter arrives home, he notices a police car parked out front of his house. He is then informed by a police officer that his uncle was murdered by an armed burglar, and that said burglar was holed up by the police and the Powerpuff Girls in a warehouse at the waterfront. Out of a need for revenge, Peter suits up as Spider-Man and goes to confront the killer. Upon arriving, Spider-Man beats the killer into a concussion, only to discover that he was the crook from the wrestling arena, the one he could have stopped when he had the chance. Just as the killer is about to shoot, though, Spider-Man disarms and knocks him out. He then picks up the gun and fires off a shot in order to alert the police and escapes. Peter then sits on a gargoyle overlooking the city's skyline, wishing that he could have saved his uncle.

Chapter 8: Spider-Man

Days later, after Uncle Ben's funeral, Peter, after hearing comforting words about Uncle Ben, decides to make up for his death and dedicates his life and powers to fighting crime and the forces of evil as Spider-Man. He stops a series of crimes across Townsville, eventually becoming the city's top sensation for the next few days.

Chapter 9: Interrogation

However, the Powerpuff Girls become very suspicious of the new hero, with Buttercup in particular being extremely afraid of the vigilante. Blossom then proposes that they simply ask the hero if he's legitimate to his claim or not, not wanting to have a repeat of Major Man from years past.

The following evening, the girls encounter Spider-Man, with Buttercup brutally attacking the hero and forcing Bubbles to restrain her. Blossom then interrogates Spider-Man, asking him if he's true to his claim. Spidey answers that it depends on how she would define "legitimate to claim", but tells her that a wise man had once taught him a very important lesson about power and responsibility. Blossom then hesitates for a moment, and allows the wall-crawling super hero to leave. Buttercup then angrily accuses Blossom of letting go of a "freak", with Blossom replying that some people in Townsville view the Powerpuff Girls as freaks sometimes.

Chapter 10: Vertigo Vulture, Part 1

When Professor Utonium is traveling from his home in the suburbs to the Townsville Radiology Department, he is abducted by the Vulture, a man named Adrian Toomes in an winged exoskeleton. The Vulture then accuses the Professor of stealing his work. Spider-Man, who had just been in the area at the time of the abduction, rushes to the scene upon hearing the Professor's cries for help.

Chapter 11: Vertigo Vulture, Part 2

After rescuing the Professor, Spider-Man and the Vulture engage in a lengthy battle stretching from the Townsville Clock Tower all the way to City Hall, where Spider-Man finally defeats the Vulture by tricking him to fall for a trap. Afterwards, Peter asks Blossom out on a date, which she accepts.

Chapter 12: Date Night, Part 1

A week after the incident with the Vulture, Peter and Blossom finally go out on their first date together to a seaside diner on the beach.

Chapter 13: Date Night, Part 2

However, in the middle of their date, the two are interrupted by the untimely appearance of the new villain Shocker. After a long fight, Spider-Man and Blossom finally subdue Shocker and turn him over to the authorities.

Chapter 14: Crushed and Humiliated

Spider-Man subdues Mojo Jojo at a bank and has him arrested, whereafter Mojo swears revenge on the super hero. Meanwhile, Peter Parker discovers that his classmate and friend Mac Gargan has a crush on Buttercup, making things awkward for Peter.

Chapter 15: Names

Mojo is released from jail but is embarrassed by the newspapers pointing out his defeat at Spider-Man's hands. At his volcanotop observatory, Mojo devises a way

Mac sits with Peter, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup at lunch, secretly trying to hook up with her. But Mitch Mitchelson, having broken up with Buttercup earlier, tries to get back together with her, leading to an argument. Mac tries to intervene, but is intimidated by Mitch, who is then landed detention by school teacher Raymond Warren.

After school, Peter and Blossom try to comfort Mac but are interrupted by Mitch's untimely arrival. Mitch attempts to pick a fight with Mac but is soon stopped by Buttercup, whose feelings Mitch hurts. Buttercup and Mac then both leave the scene.

Outside, Mac is approached by Mojo Jojo, who offers the teen a chance to get back at the bullies who put him down. Although initially hesitant, Mac agrees to Mojo's offer.

Chapter 16: Arachnophobia

At the observatory, Mojo offers Mac an armored battlesuit with a tail and an experiment which would make him stronger. After putting on the suit, Mac is bombarded with energy courtesy of the Neogenic Recombinator, a device which applied the traits of one animal with another, in this case a scorpion to a human, in a process called "Cross-Species Genetics", and is made stronger, faster, and more powerful.

At school, Buttercup intervene's Mitch giving Peter a wedgie, but is soon disheartened when Mitch makes a series of derogatory comments about her and her sisters, causing her to back down in dispair. Peter, angered, then punches Mitch in the face, knocking him out cold thanks to the former's enhanced strength. Professor Warren then intervenes and, upon seeing Buttercup standing over Mitch's body, sends her to the principal's office, while also instructing Peter and Elmer Sglue to take Mitch to the nurse's office.

Outside, Mac watches from afar, now decked out in his Scorpion armor. He is then ordered to attack by Mojo, which Mac gladly responds to.

Chapter 17: Natural Instinct

In biology class, Blossom tells Peter that she knows he was the one who knocked out Mac and, uncharacteristically, thanks him for standing up for her sister. However, afterwards, Mac, now the Scorpion, crashes through the window and orders everyone to leave. Peter and Blossom then leave the room and run into Bubbles, who was in the bathroom when Scorpion attacked. Blossom and Bubbles then tell Peter to hide while they go to fight Scorpion, but Peter secretly begins changing into Spider-Man.

Blossom and Bubbles are knocked out after underestimating the Scorpion. Buttercup soon joins the fight after the principal's office is destroyed when Scorpion knocks Bubbles into it. Buttercup and Scorpion fight viciously through the halls of the school, but the former is finally overpowered by the latter and is knocked to the ground. Blossom then tries to sneak attack Scorpion but is knocked out by the larger figure's tail. Scorpion then proceeds to bite Blossom's arm, injecting her with a lethal toxin which immediately takes her out of the fight. Buttercup, cradling Blossom in her arms, then silently awaits to be destroyed by the laser on the tip of Mac's tail, but is soon saved by the timed arrival of Spider-Man. Scorpion recovers and displays his laser by firing it at the heroes, who then dodge out of the way. Buttercup then gives Blossom to Spider-Man Scorpion then fires his laser again, only to be met by Buttercup's eye beams. Buttercup wins the beam battle, which knocks Mac across the hallway, where he is punched back to Spider-Man and Buttercup by a very angry Bubbles.

Scorpion then dispatches Bubbles with his tail, sending her flying, before turning his attention back to Spidey and Buttercup. Scorpion and Buttercup then engage in a fistfight, which ends with Scorpion again overpowering and subduing her. Scorpion then prepares to destroy her once again, only to be attacked from behind by Spider-Man.

While the arachnid-men continue to fight it out, Buttercup races over to Bubbles, now holding Blossom, and learns that Spider-Man handed Blossom to her before re-entering the fight. Buttercup then takes Blossom and begins walking over to the front entrance. Bubbles then asks if they should stay and help Spider-Man, to which Buttercup tells her to go for it if she wants to. Bubbles then reluctantly begins to follow Buttercup outside.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Scorpion continue their battle, where Scorpion throws the hero down the main hall after he tries to restrain his tail.

Source Materials

This section describes the primary inspirations for each chapter(s) from the various Spider-Man comics over the years.

• Chapters 1-8: Adaptation of Amazing Fantasy #15.
• Chapters 10-11: Adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man #2.
• Chapters 12-13: Adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man #46.
• Chapters 14-18: Adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man #19-20.
• Chapters 19-22: Adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man #3.
• Chapters ?-?: Adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man #13, #14, and the Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends episode Spidey Goes Hollywood.
• Chapters ?-?: Adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man #6 and The Amazing Spider-Man movie.

Characters

Many characters from both franchises were kept from the source material they originated. All Powerpuff Girls villains and many Spider-Man villains remain identical to how they appeared in the TV series and comics. However, some of Spider-Man's villains had their entire backstories reinvented or were versions created exclusively for the series.

Protagonists

• Spider-Man/Peter Parker
• Mary Jane Watson
• Harry Osborn (mentioned)
• Blossom Utonium
• Bubbles Utonium
• Buttercup Utonium
• Mayor
• Ms. Bellum
• Mitch Mitchelson
• Gwen Stacy
• Aunt May
• Uncle Ben

Antagonists

• Mojo Jojo
• The Amoeba Boys
• The Gangreen Gang
• The Rowdyruff Boys
  • Brick Jojo
  • Butch Jojo
  • Boomer Jojo
• The Vulture/Adrian Toomes
• The Shocker/Herman Schultz
• The Hobgoblin/Jason Macendale
• Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius
• Venom/Eddie Brock
• The Scorpion/Mac Gargan
• The Jackal/Miles Warren
• The Spider-Slayer
• The Green Goblin/Norman Morbucks
  • Green Goblin II/Princess Morbucks
• The Lizard/Professor Utonium
• Mysterio/Mandark (Dexter's Laboratory)

Trivia

• The story went through several drafts, all of which retold the Spider-Man origin story. The first draft had elements that were kept in the final product, such as it being a direct sequel to The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!, many classic Spider-Man villains were reinvented, and Peter would gain a romantic interest in a girl at school. However, the basic plot for this story was that Peter was created when a small spider dropped itself into a vat of Chemical X, causing it to transform into a little boy. The second draft was a complete retelling of both the Spider-Man origin stories. This draft kept the same origin as the first draft, but was changed to the night that Professor Utonium was about to create the "perfect little girls", instead creating a little boy. In this draft, the Professor's laboratory assistant, Jojo, transformed into the Green Goblin instead of Mojo Jojo, sparking many battles with Spider-Man.
• Many villains were recreated to fit the narrative and story of the Powerpuff Girls universe. These include Professor Utonium being the one who transforms into the Lizard (instead of Curt Connors) while testing a regenerative formula with reptile DNA, Mandark (from Dexter's Laboratory) becoming Mysterio after developing an interest in Spider-Man, and the mentally unstable Norman Morbucks, the adopted older-brother of Princess Morbucks, becoming the Green Goblin.
• Norman's eventual death at his own hands would set the catalyst for Princess Morbucks' vendetta against Spider-Man, from hiring the Hobgoblin to destroy him, to enlisting the aid of Doctor Octopus and Mojo Jojo to construct the Spider-Slayer, to finally becoming the new Green Goblin herself after she discovers Norman's past, and for her to eventually die battling Spider-Man in the suburbs.